TDBigJ's message: Hey, hey, hey! Look whose back? Man, those seven weeks flew by. Actually, they kind of didn't. But who cares about that? I doubt you guys do. How has it been for you guys for the last month and a half? I'm curious to know, and I'm dead serious about it. It seems that within the time between when Love You Now, Love You Always ended and now, a lot has happened. The Olympics came and gone, The NFL season began (YAY! Go Eagles and Seahawks!), and I applied for a couple of jobs (No calls back yet). Well, looks like I'm back with an all new story and personally, I like the idea of this story. Normally I wouldn't like the idea of writing a story of characters when they are adults if they aren't already. We all know they are kids but this idea popped up into my head one day and I couldn't refuse the idea of making this into a story so I just had to do it. With the XY/Z series wrapping up (Which makes me sad) but the Sun and Moon anime on the horizon, I thought I would get this story going while Ash's Kalos journey is still going on. Not like it matters but you know. I'm actually excited for the new anime and I look forward to watching it. But the thing that raises an eyebrow is that they changed the animation style a bit and Ash looks pretty different in the new anime. Plus, he's not going on another journey but instead going to school. That idea doesn't bother me as it's something different but the thought that Ash's appearance is altered from what it was before definitely is quite a move. How I would describe his new look is how I would describe how Serena looked when she cut her hair: It makes him look younger. But that's just my opinion. Anyway, I've been going on long enough. I bet you guys are just shaking in your seat wanting to get to the story. Luckily, since this is the first chapter, there won't be responding to reviews (For those of you who have read my stories before). And just like with Love You Now, Love You Always, I'm going to be naming chapters after a song, but with this story, it will be after titles of AC/DC songs. And plus, I'll be leaving quotes again at the end of each chapter just like with the aforementioned story, but I'll include quotes from video games this time around. And one more thing, for that guest with the request, I am so sorry that it's not out yet, I totally blitzed it. It will be out soon I promise. Maybe in the next week or so. I promise I will not let you down, that's the last thing I want to do to you. Okay sorry, I'm wasting your time again. So let's get this going. Here is Against All Odds.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or it's characters, they are owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and… whoever else.

It had been a few days since the end of the Kalos League and Ash was soon to leave the region. Ash had a stellar performance in the Kalos League but ended up losing in the finals to his rival Alain. His friends were saddened by his loss but were happy he got so far, and Ash was proud of himself for getting that far and had little to no disappointment. Why should he be? It had been the best he performed in a league to date, beating his semifinal appearance in Sinnoh. But all in all, he was all happy, and he had every right to.

It was time for the plane to depart, so Ash had to finish up his goodbyes. He had already said it to Clemont and Bonnie, so there was one other person he had yet to say it to: His childhood friend Serena.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to go. It was great meeting up with you again. I'll keep in touch." Ash stated.

"Yeah, I will too." Serena replied in a depressed tone.

"Don't worry, I'll be all right. You take care, okay?"

After Ash said that, he turned the other way and started to walk towards the plane, only to be stopped by Serena from behind as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Please stay. I don't want you to leave." She said, tears starting to form up in her eyes.

Ash released from her grip and turned around and put his hands on her shoulders. "I want to stay too. But I've got another journey ahead of me and I don't want to miss out on it."

"But, I'll miss you so much. I don't want to be separated from you again like when we were kids." She said as tears started running down her cheeks.

"I don't want to either. But I promise one hundred percent that I'll keep in contact."

This only caused more tears to run down her face faster. Ash took his hands and wiped them from her cheeks, only for them to be replaced immediately. Ash soon moved his hands from her face to her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.

"I completely promise you that I'll contact you every so often and promise that once I'm done in the next region that I'll come visit you here in Kalos. Is that okay?"

Serena was fine with that idea but the expression on her face didn't change. "Okay." She said quietly to the point that only Ash heard her.

Ash smiled and pulled her into a hug, which caught her by surprise. She slowly wrapped her arms around his back and looked down at the ground. Him hugging her made her feel a little bit happy but thought about the fact that this would be the last time she would touch him for a while, which was a depressing thought. After a hug that lasted about a minute, Ash let go and made eye contact with her again.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye. I promise that I'll contact you every so often. I'll see you soon." He said and turned around and walked away, turning his face back towards the others and raising his hand in the air to signal goodbye. Clemont and Bonnie raised their hands back at him in return but Serena didn't. She didn't have the heart to. She lifted her head back up and saw him as he and Pikachu walked towards their plane.

This was the last time she was going to see him for a long time, and it wasn't going to be easy getting used to the fact it was happening again.

Present day

She laid in her bed, looking up at the ceiling, thinking that moment over and over again, replaying it as she felt like it was only yesterday, but in reality it had been 16 years.

Yep. In fact, it had been 16 years since she last saw him. Serena was now a twenty six year old woman and not much had happened in her life since she was ten. When he last left her, the words that he said that rang so much in her head…

"I promise that I'll contact you every so often."

She remembered that line like it was part of a movie script. The sad part of that line he said before he left that day… is that he never kept true to his word. He hadn't contacted her once since then. Not one phone call, not one text message, not one email, nothing. She was disappointed about it, but she was in no way mad at him for it, just saddened. She kind of blamed herself for that too, she didn't contact him either. She felt that she had to make the first move in order for him to respond, but she never got the courage, which is why she blamed herself for it. She didn't know whether to blame herself completely for it, most of it, or half. She didn't want to blame him for anything but she should for some of it. He could have kept his promise to her that he would keep in contact with her but not doing it even one time throughout six years seemed very disappointing to her.

She flashed back to the moment he left her. It was seriously the WORST moment of her life. Her crush leaving her sight for the second time within a few years and not seeing him again for a long time was painful to her, but seeing as it's been over a decade and a half since they last made contact, every waking moment she didn't see him or even heard from him felt like numerous seconds of her life were being taken away, seconds she could never get back.

When he left her that day, she had never gotten the guts to tell him her true feelings, that she liked him more than a friend. And she was mad at herself about it. So many opportunities throughout their journey and not once she could get her inner feelings to come out that the boy always seemed so dense to know about. She wondered if she ever did tell him, what his response would be. He probably wouldn't know, by either little knowledge on the subject, or clueless on the whole idea of romance, or both for that matter. But she was older now, so if she saw him again, she would definitely reveal to him how she felt towards him. But now, that would be a waste of time, because of one thing…

He was already married.

Yep, your ears are not deceiving you. Ash, the incredibly dense kid who knew nothing about romance and love, had a few years ago gotten married and within that time had two kids, a son and a daughter. Serena had seen his wife (No, it's not Miette if that's what you're thinking), and she no doubt was a gorgeous woman but he was so caring and due to the fact that he was Pokemon world champion, what girl wouldn't want to marry him? Men wanted to be him and women wanted to have his children. The man was an icon worldwide and was truly meant to be. Serena thought that Ash was downright stunning now as a grown man. His appearance had changed only the slightest in sixteen years but what he looked right now made Serena's heart melt and almost made her want to faint, but she was just one of many.

She wished that she had told him while she had the chance. After Ash's plane had taken off back towards Kanto, Serena's stance didn't even change but her willing to talk did. After Bonnie wondered and asked Serena why she was down, she ended up complaining to her why she never told Ash she loved him. Serena didn't blame Bonnie for being upset, as on the last legs of their journey Serena found out that Bonnie and Clemont knew she liked Ash and the little girl wanted the two of them to become a thing. She knew that Clemont was also disappointed (Which he was) but he didn't want to make a scene and not make Serena feel any worse than she already was and dragged Bonnie away with his Aipom arm and gave her a talking to.

It was 1:32 in the morning and Serena had been in bed for the last couple hours but had trouble falling asleep due to her thinking about everything. So much had happened in Ash's life in sixteen years but hardly anything happened in hers. Of course she kept on practicing with her Pokemon every now and then. She didn't ever feel like entering a showcase again as she felt like she was too old to do so, plus, that part of her life was come and gone. She wanted to focus on something else now but didn't know what. She could become a battler like Ash, or she could enter contests that she had heard about. She knew that Ash had female friends in the past do contests and they were almost like showcases but had a bit of battling which was different from the showcases that she was used to when she was younger, but she wasn't objected to the idea of doing that at some point. She would like to expand, but that had to be thought about later.

Back to the subject at hand, in the last sixteen years, Ash had grown, as a person and a trainer. Things he didn't know that much about when he was ten he had better knowledge of today. Serena really wanted to meet up with Ash again and see how much he changed through time, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. She was itching to know, and, who this wife of his was. What kind of person was she? And also, his kids. She saw his kids via a picture of them on the internet. They were adorable little kids. His daughter was five and his son was four so of course they were adorable. Serena really wished she was Ash's first love, but that title would be forever to his wife. Serena thought that she had been awake pondering this for a while and turned off the lamp next to her bed and pulled up the covers over her. As she closed her eyes, she wondered if she would ever have her chance with Ash: The boy she loved to the moon and back. Who knows if Serena ever would. Only time will tell.

But little did she know, something happened some time ago that she didn't hear about.

The following morning, the sun shined through the window of Serena's room. Since her blinds were open she almost got blinded by the bright light. She started to open her eyes but immediately closed them again as the light brought a small but burning pain to her eyes only just after opening them slightly. She brought her right hand out from under the covers and put it out in front of her face to reduce the glare from the sun.

"Man, I should've closed the blinds last night." Serena said to herself as the burning pain still riddled inside her eyelids. She pulled the covers off of her and got up while still keeping her eyes closed and hand still in front of it. She got up and walked over to the blinds and closed them so she could finally open them again, much to her delight. She rubbed her eyes to rid them of the stinging. Her Pokemon Sylveon (Yes she still has Sylveon) awoke from it's sleep and saw it's owner in her just awakened state. A bright light never woke up Sylveon, not even if it was searing. It was used to this kind of thing as it has been living with it's owner for many years. That was the thing with Serena's Pokemon, they never awoke from anything that didn't come in contact with them, if it wasn't a human, other Pokemon, or random object they didn't awake from it. Serena on the other hand, anything woke her up, no matter what it was. You could even slide your fingers across her skin and she would be jarred awake from it. She bent down and stroked Sylveon's head which it purred in return.

She went into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair had been frizzled and ruffled from her constant turning throughout the night. She admitted she had a worse bed head than anybody, people she knew or people in general. Especially with the way she had worn her hair.

Serena's hair had stayed the same since she was ten. It was still as short as it was when she cut it when she was in Coumarine City when she was on her journey with Ash when she was younger. Sure it had started growing again but when it started to get long she would get it cut off back to her normal short length. She liked her hair this short. She wanted to keep it short for now but the idea of growing it long again was not off the table. She wouldn't mind having it mid back length like for most of her childhood but for the time being she was keeping it shoulder length.

She looked back into her room and checked the clock. It read 8:42. She thought she would get her day started. So she went to turn the nozzle to the shower and turned it on and got the rest prepared before she got in.

Twenty minutes later she had finished taking a shower, getting dressed and getting her hair dried and curled. Her appearance hadn't much changed either in sixteen years. She still looked the same. The only thing that she really changed in that time was her attire. She didn't wear the red and pink, the boots, or the fedora anymore. She didn't really want to dress like that anymore. If people found out that she had been wearing the same outfit from when she was a kid they would find her pathetic, and she didn't want that.

Nowadays, she wore plain blue jeans, a pink long sleeve shirt (not one similar to the one she wore back then), and grey sneakers. She wore earrings a lot more now. She would wear a necklace but she didn't have one. Basically every aspect of her outfit had changed, but there was one thing that actually hadn't changed…

The blue ribbon.

Yes it's true. The blue ribbon that she had gotten from Ash in Coumarine City she still had… and still wore every day. Every morning when she got dressed she had to tie the blue ribbon the same way she had worn for a long time. Literally every day since the end of her journey she had worn the ribbon. She didn't skip one day. That's how much the ribbon still meant to her. It was the most meaningful item she owned because it came from someone she cared about deeply, even to this day. She never wanted to forget about it. Not now, not ever!

She had sprayed some perfume on her but didn't put any makeup on. She usually didn't wear any because she had nothing to cover up. It was one thing she did differently than other girls. She didn't want to be one of those girls that put so much make up so they could deceive other people into thinking she looked flawless. Serena didn't like putting a lot of effort into how she looked. She just kept her appearance simple and so far it worked out for her. Serena didn't like how most girls would wear so much makeup, jewelry, and/or fashionable clothes just so they could reel in a cute guy and only like him for that. Most people these days (guys and girls) only dated people who were attractive looks wise, not because they were attractive personality wise. It irritated her. You should like someone based off of their inner traits rather than their outside, but most people were idiots to not think otherwise. With most people it was: "Either you're hot, or it's a no." Just the thought made Serena infuriated on the inside and made her want to get her point across to those people.

That thought came across her mind. When it came to her crush on Ash, she didn't like him because he was attractive, she liked how he was kind and selfless towards others and Pokemon. To her that was why she liked him so much. Sure, she did think he was cute but that was the last reason why she harbored feelings towards him.

Once she was done she went back into her room and saw that her Pokemon were still asleep. She didn't want to awake them so she let them rest away. That was what they did most of the time. Almost every day they would still be sleeping when she was done getting herself ready for the day. They would sometimes stay in their slumber until eleven but she was not one to pry. She was fair.

She went into the kitchen and made herself some coffee. While it was preparing she went to her front window and opened the blinds. Luckily this window wasn't on the same side of the apartment as the one in her room so the sun didn't shine as bright as it did a half hour ago when she awoke. She went over to the corner of the counter and picked up her phone and checked if she received any messages overnight. Not one. Not one call either.

Over the past decade and a half she had met and became friends with pretty much all of Ash's former travelling companions. The ones she usually talked to and spent time with were Misty, Dawn, Brock, and Cilan. They had told her their opinions of Ash and what impact he had on them and they were all remarkable. She guessed that she wasn't the only one Ash put a lot of influence on when he was trying to achieve his dream.

When Serena went out and started to live life on her own when she was eighteen, she moved back to her home region of Kanto and hometown of Pallet. She missed living here prior to her and her mom moving to Kalos when she was little. It was her true home, and she wanted to move back here immediately when she got her first opportunity. It was the place her life started and more importantly it was the place she met Ash, hence the time he helped her in the forest at Professor Oak's Summer Camp as a little girl.

She just wondered what else Ash was up to these days, besides the fact he was married and had a family. Him being the Pokemon World Champion meant that he had a lot of challengers wanting their shot at taking him on. But every time he had a challenger (Which was quite often), he would easily beat them. I mean, not even a close battle. It was by a landslide. Most battles he won 6-1 or 6-2 or even a complete shutout. On occasion he would have a 6-3 victory but that was as far as anyone had gotten close to beating him. He wasn't World Champion for no reason. Even members of the Elite Four from every region came by once in a while and challenged him but even THEY couldn't beat him, although they came closer than a usual trainer. Most of them got as far losing 6-4 but no farther, he was just that good. Good wasn't even enough to describe him, "phenomenal" was the exact definition. Serena knew for sure that his wife was proud to be married to such a man and his kids were fascinated for him to be their father. How many kids can say: "My dad is the world's greatest Pokemon master!" Or "My dad is Pokemon World Champion!" Serena couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, in the good way, if there even was a good kind of jealous.

A lot of his success came from his dedicated work as a trainer when he was young. During his journeys across all regions there were a few things that he could do that a lot of other trainers couldn't do or dream of doing. Making top 16 in his first league attempt, becoming Orange League champion, conquering the Battle Frontier, being the only one that beat Tobias' Darkrai in the Sinnoh League, you name it. He didn't accomplish everything but he did a lot of the difficult tasks that came towards him wherever he went.

Another thing she wondered was if he kept in contact with his other friends throughout the years. Did he keep in touch with Clemont and Bonnie? Did he with May, Max, and Iris? Tierno, Shauna, Trevor, Alain? Who? If he did with all of them, she would be saddened because she would have been the odd one out, but if there was at least one, just one, that he didn't or rarely did, she would be okay, but she was not one to be judgmental.

She had poured herself a cup of coffee and grasped the mug with both of her hands and took a drink. She had to wait for the buzz to kick in a little later. Coffee wasn't her favorite drink but it got her through the day most of the time, as for most people. She walked over to the coffee table next to the couch and turned on the tv.

As she took another drink of coffee, she thought over what she would do today. She thought that going to the park and walking around it would soothe her nerves. All this thinking about Ash was clouding up her mind and as much as she liked thinking about him, she wanted to avoid overdoing it, as sometimes she would lose focus or forget what she was thinking about prior to that. It wasn't often but she still thought about it.

As she watched the usual morning programming, she thought she would check up on her Pokemon in her room. She went in the doorway and saw that they were still asleep. She smiled and shook her head as she went back to sit down.

Her Pokemon had hardly showed any signs of aging as she lived with them. Even though she had them for sixteen years but they still performed well when she trained with them. They were human in a sort of way. And she also had them out of their Pokeballs almost all the time. When she was home or training with them they stayed out which was basically almost the whole day. The only time she had them in their Pokeballs was when she brought them out with her in public and didn't want anything happening to them, not like anything ever did but it's better safe than sorry.

A thought popped up in her mind. Besides Ash, she wondered how Pikachu was these days. She had almost forgotten about the small electric mouse she got so attached to on her journey. She knew that Ash still had him as he was his best friend and she saw Pikachu battling with Ash on tv in various battles that he participated in. She had a lot of good memories with Pikachu as well as Ash. She remembered the time during their journey when Ash caught a fever and she dressed in his clothes and fought alongside Pikachu. That was one of her favorite moments throughout her journey.

A good hour passed and she was growing bored inside her apartment. Most of the good shows on tv in the morning had passed and there was hardly anything good on. So she thought that she would gather her Pokemon and go out to the park that she thought about going to earlier. She grabbed her Pokeballs from her nightstand, woke up all her Pokemon, and put them back in their respective Pokeballs and she got the other things she needed and headed off.

When she got to the park there were many other people there, most with their Pokemon, either doing activities or just simply training them. Luckily the park had a gorgeous waterfall in the middle and she walked over to that and sat down on the edge that a few other people were sitting on. Once she sat down she took out her three Pokeballs and sent out her three Pokemon. Once they were out, they realized where they were and revealed happy expressions. But before they could roam free, Serena stopped them.

"Hold on. Go where you want but not to where I can't see you. Don't bug other people unless they come up to you, and lastly, when it's time to go, I will come and get you and we'll get going home. You all understand?" Serena explained. All three Pokemon cheered in agreement and walked off to wherever they were going. Serena wasn't going to just sit here the whole time, so she got up and walked around to see what else was going on around there. Plus, she wanted to keep a close eye on her Pokemon just in case one of them got out of hand. They never really did but you never know.

Ten minutes later she wandered around the park, all the while keeping an eye out for her Pokemon and made sure they didn't go anywhere she didn't want them to. They were well behaved but things could happen out of nowhere.

Suddenly Serena's phone vibrated and she checked it. Apparently Dawn had texted her. The text was nothing special, it was just asking what she was up to. Serena replied with just a simple text and put her phone back in her right pocket. A few moments later it vibrated again and this time the text was something that piqued Serena's interest.

"Did you hear that Ash is back in Kanto?"

Serena was surprised to hear of this. Ash had been travelling in the other regions for a couple of months now and it seemed like he had just returned. Ash himself also lived in Kanto, more specifically in Pallet. Serena had a lot of chances to see him since she lived here too but due to the fact she had no idea where he lived and plus he was almost always away from home doing his work as World Champion taking on all challengers and doing a seminar once in a while. Luckily most of the time he had his family go with him so at least he included them in his success.

"Really? When did he get back?" She texted back.

"Just last night. He just got back from going around Sinnoh for a couple of weeks."

Serena was excited to hear that he had returned. She heard about every time he left to another region or face a trainer that wanted to challenge him. Seeing him around though was next to squat. On the plus side, she at least got to see him in action on tv and through news on the internet, so it wasn't a total loss.

She once again put her phone back in her pocket and resumed walking around the park. She was in brighter spirits now that she heard Ash was back in Pallet. Maybe she could actually see him again, oh how she cherished that thought. Suddenly, she heard a child scream. She didn't know whether it was in agony or in excitement. She looked over to her right about fifty yards away. She saw Sylveon in front of another kid. Serena immediately took action and walked over to the kid but stopped in her tracks as soon as she started when the kid started petting Sylveon and Sylveon enjoying the moment as the kid happily stroked it's fur. Serena sighed in relief and wiped her forehead realizing it wasn't a problem that was occurring. She continued walking towards the scene and approached her Pokemon. The kid, a boy, looked up at her while continuing to pet Sylveon.

"Oh hey, is this your Pokemon miss?" He asked.

"Yes, it's mine." She replied.

"I hope I'm not doing anything wrong. Sorry if I am." He stated.

"Oh it's perfectly fine. I have no problem with it. As long as nothing is going wrong, it's okay." Serena explained, telling the boy that it wasn't an issue with her.

"What Pokemon is it?" He asked.

"It's a Sylveon. I've had her since I was ten." She responded.

"Oh, isn't Sylveon one of the many evolutions of Eevee?"

"Yes it is. I had an Eevee initially but it evolved into Sylveon not long after I got her." She explained.

"Hey, I feel like I've seen you before." He stated. "But I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Where have you seen me? Maybe I could help you."

"I've seen you on tv a few ti- OH! Now I know. You used to be a Pokemon Performer from a long time ago." He exclaimed.

"How did you know that? I haven't been in a showcase in sixteen years." Serena asked, surprised he knew about her.

"My mom has been into Pokemon Performing since she was twelve. She has watched every Pokemon showcase in the last twenty years. And she has recorded all of them too and my mom showed me one from a long time ago and I remember you were one of the performers. The one with the short honey blonde hair and had a Braixen, Pancham, and Sylveon. I'm surprised I was able to meet you." He explained.

"Oh my gosh, that's amazing! I didn't think anyone would remember me from that. You're into Pokemon Performing?" She asked.

"Only watching it. I'm into everything Pokemon related, whether it's leagues, contests, or showcases, or anything else, I'm into it." He explained. "Your name was… let me think for a moment. It's Serena isn't it?"

"In fact it is. Good memory." Serena commented. Suddenly there was a whistle, which just so happened to be the boy's mom.

"That's my mom. I should get going. It was nice meeting you. I hope I can see you again soon, Serena. Goodbye." He said and ran off to go tell his mom who he just ran into. But before he could get far, Serena stopped him.

"Uh, excuse me for a moment. I didn't get your name." She called out.

"It's Troy. I'll see you later." He said and went back to running towards his mom.

That was the highlight of Serena's day. Well, besides hearing that Ash was back in town. Seeing as someone she didn't know remember what she did back when she was young was something to relish in. She wasn't famous or anything but it was nice to know that there was someone who respected her past.

She found all of her Pokemon and called them back into their Pokeballs and started her way back home. She didn't really have anything else to do for the rest of the day. But seeing as there were a couple of her highlights that happened in the last hour, it wasn't such a bad outing.

Once she got back to her apartment she flicked her tv on but went into her room and grabbed her laptop and logged herself in. She went on the internet and looked up the most recent news to see if anything about Ash's return home. And wouldn't you know, there was. There were a couple of reports that he had set foot back in Kanto and many people were excited about it. A smile crept across her face and looked up at the ceiling. She didn't stay on her laptop for long as she just wanted to know if there was anything newsworthy. She went back out to the main room and sat down on the couch. Her spirits were brightened a bit. Today was nowhere near the best day of her life but it was a good one.

That best day of her life was going to happen someday, she just didn't know when yet.

Author's note: And… BAM! There is the first chapter. I honestly think it went well. But that's just my opinion. What did you guys think? Sorry if you thought it was boring, but a first chapter I make for any story is usually a build up chapter or a simple chapter to start things off. The first chapter IMHO doesn't need to be a big chapter or have anything major happen. Most writers usually do that when they write a book. I mean, have nothing big happen is what I mean. But one thing you should do is hint something that could let your readers know what is going to happen throughout the course of the story. Of course, the summary before you click on it will tell you but you will find out as you read the first couple of chapters. I hope you guys will have a good time as I've said before I really like the idea of this story. It will give me a whole new way to develop the characters a bit. And if you read my first couple of stories you know what my next step is. If you guessed that I'll spoil the rest of the story, you're dead wrong. It's the preview.

"So how are things these days?" Ash asked.

"Oh you know. I'm not really doing much. Since I don't really go on journeys anymore I kind of travel around here with my Pokemon and sometimes I train with them every so often." Serena explained. "So, I see you've been quite the busy one as of late, huh?"

"Yeah. It's a lot of work but it's well worth it. One pro is that I decide what I can do whenever I want. Sometimes I'm offered opportunities by others and I have the decision of accepting or declining them. I pretty much accept them because I always like a good challenge, plus I like giving chances to others." He explained.

"Well, you love what you're doing, huh?"

"Yep. Have you decided what you want to do now that you're older?" Ash asked.

"No, I haven't. There really isn't something I want to do nowadays. But I'm fine with it." She answered.

"Come on, there's got to be something you're interested in doing."

"I'll take some time to think about it." Serena replied. "So how long will you be in town?"

"I thought that I would take a few weeks off to settle down a bit. Since I've been going abroad for a couple of months, I've actually been wanting to sit back and relax for some time. It's been pretty hectic."

"Where do you live these days? I've heard you live in Pallet like I do but I never see you there." She asked.

"I live in a gray mansion up on a hill. And don't worry, not very many people visit me that much up there. But that apparently doesn't fend off the paparazzi." Ash stated with a giggle at the end. Serena couldn't help but giggle herself.

"Dad, where are you?" A voice said from out of sight.

"I'm over here, honey." Ash called out.

And from behind a wall of the nearest building came two little kids, a boy and a girl. They came running up to Ash and both of them grabbed each of his legs.

"Where did you go?" His daughter asked.

"That's what I should be asking you. Where did you two ninjas go? You two were next to me then one second, "poof" you're gone." Ash asked looking down at them.

"We must have turned invisible instead of becoming ninjas, daddy." His son joked. Ash and his two kids shared a laugh, with Serena giggling along.

"So daddy, who is this you're talking to?" His daughter asked.

Ash bent down so he was able to put both his arms around his children. "Remember my good friend Serena that I told you guys a lot about? This is her."

Serena was touched by the fact that he said he told them a lot about her. That part made her happy so apparently he didn't forget about her. She bent down as well to greet them.

"Serena, this is my daughter Bellamy and my son Tristan." Ash pointed out.

Serena reached out both her hands to the two kids. "It's really nice to meet you two."

But as for Bellamy and Tristan, they looked at Serena as a ray of hope. It seemed like she was someone that could have a chance with their father.

"Are you single?" Bellamy asked.

Author's note: Whoa, that took a turn. What a way for the first preview to end. Where will things go from here? What are Tristan and Bellamy up to? Do I smell potential? Do I smell romance? Do I smell tacos? Am I going off subject? If I am, I'm going to dress up like the Joker and jump off a cliff. While I ponder this decision, I will write the next chapter and clear my mind of any stupidity. I will see you in a week. Until then…

TDBigJ out!

I thought I told you this was a one way trip?

-Captain Price, Modern Warfare 2